


Bleeding Hearts

by captainamergirl



Category: The Young and the Restless
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Shadley oh what could have been, Soon after Cassie's death, may add a sequel someday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 16:16:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20708927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: When Sharon needs someone...





	Bleeding Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago but want to archive it here. I am the biggest Brash (Bradley/Ashley) fan in the world, I think, but do have a soft spot in my heart for Shadley. Enjoy!

The elevator doors slid open and Sharon Newman went inside. It was good to be back in Genoa City. The trip to Denver had been surprisingly rejuvenating and she was starting to feel more like the old Sharon – the Sharon before Cassie died.   
  
She couldn’t wait to see her husband and son. It seemed like she had been months since she had seen them, rather than just 5 days. She smiled in anticipation thinking of the look on Nick’s face when he saw that she had come home early.   
  
The elevator doors opened and Sharon walked briskly down the hall to Nick’s office. The door was ajar and she stuck her head in. Then she gasped.   
  
Nick released Phyllis and swung around. Sharon was standing in the doorway with a horrified expression on her face.   
  
Phyllis dropped her eyes guiltily.   
  
“Sharon,” Nick said.   
  
“Don’t let me interrupt,” Sharon said and turning, fled down the hall.   
  
“Sharon – Sharon, wait up!” Nick called after her.   
  
Sharon could hear his footfalls pounding in her ears as he chased her down the hall. She leaned on the elevator’s down button and when the doors opened, she darted inside. “Sharon! Hold the elevator.” He reached out to keep the doors from closing but it was too late – they had swished shut. She could hear him calling her name as the elevator went down; her name – _“Sharon! Sharon!”_ – beating a quick drum in her ears.   
  
Now she fell against the elevator’s back wall. Not again. Never again. He had promised. It was Grace Turner all over again except this time it was a red-head and not a blonde.   
  
How could Nick kiss Phyllis? How could he do this to her? If he was kissing Phyllis, what else had he been doing with her?  
  
These questions fired through Sharon’s like little painful lightning bolts and she fought the urge to cry. She had been expecting a lot of things from her reunion with Nick, but seeing him with Phyllis was definitely not one of them.   
  
The doors opened and Sharon stepped out. Right away, she was pulled forward by Nick. He was standing there, breathing heavily. He had obviously bolted down the stairs to catch her before she left the building.   
  
“What, Nick – what do you want?” Sharon demanded.   
  
“We need to talk, Sharon,” Nick said.   
  
“I don’t want to talk to you, Nick. I never want to talk to you or see you ever again.”  
  
“Give me a chance to explain – please,” he begged.   
  
Realizing that they were causing a stir with the clients in the waiting room, Nick said: “Can we talk somewhere privately?”   
  
“I have nothing to say to you,” Sharon said stubbornly.   
  
“Please, Sharon, give me a chance.” Nick said. He reached for her arm and pulled her into the Newman boardroom. Shutting the door behind them, Nick said, “Sharon, I love you. I never wanted to hurt you.”   
  
“This is how you show your love? By cheating on me?”   
  
“Let me explain.”   
  
“Fine. Try to explain why your lips –“ her voice faltered –“your lips were on hers.”   
  
“Sharon, I’m sorry. It was a huge mistake.”   
  
“A mistake, Nick? A mistake is crashing into the car ahead of you in rush hour traffic. A mistake is spilling coffee on your new pants. This is not a mistake, its … wrong.”   
  
By now tears were streaming down her face. Nick reached out to wipe them away but she backed up out of his reach. Instead, he offered her a tissue. She dabbed at her face with it.  
  
“I am so sorry. I can’t express that enough.”   
  
“Just tell me something. Be honest,” Sharon swallowed the lump in her throat. “Are you sleeping with Phyllis?”   
  
His eyes darted everywhere but refused to meet hers. “It doesn’t matter as long as we work together on rebuilding our marriage …”   
  
“You did sleep with her, didn’t you?”   
  
He nodded. “How many times did it happen?”   
  
Nick hesitated, hating to see the pain in her watery eyes. “It happened … a few times.”   
  
Sharon let out a guttural moan and beat his chest with her fists. “Why? How? How could you do this to me – to us? To Noah?”   
  
Nick tried to wrap his arms around her but she pushed him off. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again!”  
  
“Sharon, I am so sorry.”   
  
Sharon looked up at him with a pained expression on her pretty face. “Why? Is it me? Am I not good enough for you?” She asked. Right then he would have given anything to take back what he had done with Phyllis.   
  
“Of course you’re good enough. I just felt … empty. We have been so distant with each other. We weren’t connecting. Cassie’s death really affected both of us …”   
  
“Don’t you dare bring Cassie into this! Don’t you use her as an excuse to explain your actions,” Sharon snapped. “If you were trying to get back at me for sleeping Diego – or for kissing Brad, then you succeeded. I felt horrible. Is that what you wanted?”  
  
“That was not my intention. None of this was supposed to happen.”   
  
“You are right. We were never meant to happen.” Sharon pushed past him and went to the door.   
  
“Sharon, please don’t leave like this. Let’s talk!"  
  
Sharon gave him a withering look. “Why don’t you go talk to Phyllis? You seem to be communicating well with her.” She opened the door. “Leave me alone.” And with that, she was gone. 

* * *

Sharon drove aimlessly through the cold, dark streets of Genoa City. It was getting close to ten o’clock but she had no place to go and she didn’t want to go back to the ranch. She couldn’t face Nick. Not now.   
  
Fortunately, Noah was staying at a friend’s house that night, so she didn’t feel too bad about leaving him alone.   
  
Occasionally she checked her voice mail. Nick had left 5 messages – all of them begging her to call him. Why should she call him? What could he say that would make it all better? She wished she could go back in time and make the decision not to have gone to Nick’s office. Then she never would have seen him with Phyllis.   
  
Ignorance really was bliss.   
  
Sharon thought of the places she could go, but none of them seemed like an option. She really had no friends that she could talk to and the last thing she wanted was to go to Nick’s parents. They would openly say they felt awful for Sharon and secretly would be wondering what she had done to drive him away yet again.   
  
_What about Drucilla Winters?_ She thought. _Maybe I can call her. We’ve been getting closer since we’ve been going on these business trips._ But no – that wouldn’t work. Dru was having a crisis with her adopted son, Devon. Sharon couldn’t burden her any further.   
  
_What about Brad Carlton?_ That could work, but then again … Brad was dating Nick’s sister … That would be awkward. But she knew Brad wouldn’t judge her or tell Victoria anything that she wanted to be kept secret.   
  
She did a U-turn on Ridge Road and headed back towards Brad’s part of town. She was there in 5 minutes. Taking a long breath, she slowly climbed out of the car and shut the door. She was holding herself as erect as she could when she was really close to crumpling in a heap on the sidewalk outside Brad’s door.   
  
She knocked on the door. She waited a few moments then decided he must have gone to bed, and she turned away. Fresh tears welled in her eyes.   
  
“Sharon?” Brad’s voice came from behind her. She turned around. “What is it?”   
  
“Oh god, Brad,” she moaned.   
  
He reached out for her and pulled her into his strong arms. “Come inside,” he said

* * *

Sharon leaned on Brad’s broad shoulder as he led her into the front room. “Let me have your coat,” Brad said. 

Sharon pulled off her black suede jacket and handed it to him. He folded it in half over the arm of the chair. “Thanks,” she said. “I probably shouldn’t have come but –“  
  
“Sharon, Sharon!” Abby’s little voice chorused from the other side of the room.   
  
Sharon quickly wiped away her tears, not wanting to upset the child. “Abby, hi,” she said. “It’s pretty late - what are you doing up?”   
  
Abby came over and sat next to Sharon on the couch. “I had a nightmare and Daddy said I could have a glass of milk before I went back to bed.”   
  
Sure enough, Abby had a little milk mustache. “Oh that’s too bad. Do you feel like talking about it?” Sharon glanced at Brad who shrugged and sat in a chair on the other side of the room.   
  
“It was really scary. I dreamt that mommy went to jail and the prison keepers wouldn’t let me see her ever again,” Abby moaned.   
  
Sharon pulled her close. “I’m sorry, baby,” she said, rocking her gently. “That sounds awful.”   
  
Abby nodded. “It was. What if that really happens to my mommy?”   
  
Sharon felt helpless to allay her fears. Fortunately, Brad interceded. “Abby, sweetheart, it was a nightmare. Everything will look so much better in the bright light of day.”   
  
Brad came over to her. “Why don’t I tuck you in?”   
  
“Can Sharon tuck me in too?” Abby asked.   
  
Brad glanced at her. Sharon smiled. “Are you sure you want me to?”  
  
“Oh yes, please. My mommy hasn’t tucked me in along time and you look like her – kind of – so maybe I could just pretend you were her.”   
  
“I –I guess so,” Sharon said. “But you’ll see your real mommy tomorrow I bet and then you can give her a very big kiss and hug.”   
  
“Okay, munchkin, let’s get you to bed,” Brad said. He picked up his daughter and put her over his shoulder. She squealed with delight and Sharon smiled as she followed them up the stairs.   
  
Inside Abby’s room, Brad laid the little girl in her bed. He fixed the covers over her.   
  
“Make me a burrito, daddy,” Abby said.   
  
Sharon looked puzzled. “She means that she wants me to tuck her in so tight that she looks like a little burrito,” Brad explained as he arranged the covers around her little body tightly.  
  
“Yo quiero Taco Bell,” Abby said.   
  
Sharon laughed. “You are learning Spanish, I see.”   
  
“Not really,” Abby said. “I just like to watch the commercials on TV.”   
  
“Okay, its time for a certain little girl to close her eyes and get back to sleep,” Brad said, lightly poking her in the stomach.   
  
Abby sighed. “Oh dad, don’t make me. I want to stay up cause Sharon is here and I love her.”   
  
Sharon’s heart fluttered at the little girl’s words. “I care a lot about you too, Abby,” she said.   
  
“You can see her again soon,” Brad said and he motioned Sharon to the door. “It’s time for you to go to sleep.”  
  
“Wait, wait!” Abby said. “You can’t leave me without singing to me. I can’t sleep if you don’t.”   
  
“Abby, you really need to go to sleep,” Brad said. “I’ll leave the light in the hallway on.”  
  
“Just sing me one song. Pleassseeee!” Abby looked over at Sharon. “And you help out too, Sharon, okay?”   
  
“Okay … what song would you like us to sing?” Sharon asked.   
  
“Hmm … how about ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’?”  
  
“That was one of Cassie’s favorites,” Sharon said. She glanced at Brad. “Ready?”   
  
He nodded and they began to sing the lullaby softly. “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are …”   
  
After singing two choruses of the lullaby, Brad reached out and pulled Sharon towards the door. “She’s asleep,” he whispered, pointing to the still form in the little bed.   
  
She smiled and they backed out of the room. 

* * *

Once downstairs, Brad prepared Sharon some hot cocoa. “With marshmallows,” he said, handing her the mug. “Just the way Abby likes it.”   
  
He sat down beside her on the sofa. “Thanks for that,” Brad said.   
  
“For what?”   
  
“For helping me out with her.”   
  
“I loved doing it,” Sharon said. “It helps me to be around her. Its like, I still have a connection to Cassie through Abby’s innocence.”  
  
“You will never lose that connection to your daughter,” Brad assured her. “She will always be a part of you.”  
  
They didn’t say anything for awhile, each of them staring into the fire. Brad wondered what Sharon was thinking about.  
  
So eventually he decided to ask her. “Sharon, what is bothering you? You came in here looking very upset.”   
  
Sharon didn’t turn to look at him. “I think its over for Nick and me.”   
  
“What happened?”  
  
“I came home early to surprise him and found him with … another woman.”   
  
“Did you find them in bed together?”  
  
“No. I caught them kissing and Nick admitted that they are sleeping together.”  
  
“He’s a bastard,” Brad said, clenching his fist. “Who is the woman?”  
  
“I don’t … want to say,” Sharon said lamely.  
  
“You don’t have to protect her.”  
  
“It’s Phyllis Summers.”  
  
“Phyllis is sleeping with Nick? Since when?”  
  
“I don’t know. But Nick said that they have been intimate a few times.”  
  
Sharon went to stand by the fire. She held out her hands to warm them. She felt ice cold – from the inside out.   
  
Brad watched her. He wondered what would drive a man to cheat on a woman as beautiful, compassionate, and amazing as her. Brad, himself, had gone behind Victoria’s back just to be with her.   
  
“This is unbelievable. I thought Phyllis and Jack were back together.”  
  
“Well, I guess it didn’t make a difference to Phyllis.” Brad could hear tears in her voice. “My heart is bleeding. I think I’m losing it.” She began to sob. Brad hurried over to her and pulled her into his arms. She cried into his chest.  
  
“And the worst part is that Nick blamed it on losing Cassie – as if that were some kind of excuse. He is using my baby’s death as a reason to cheat.”  
  
“He is scum, Sharon,” Brad said. “You don’t have to put up with that.”  
  
Even as Brad said it, he knew he was no better than Nick Newman. Hadn’t he gone behind Victoria’s back, lusting after the beautiful woman now in his arms?   
  
He leaned his head down to smell her hair. She had used some citrusy shampoo and the smell was heavenly. Sharon looked up at him. Then their mouths hungrily found each other’s. Brad’s hands were in Sharon’s silky, soft hair and Sharon’s warm hands were on his face. She fit so perfectly in his arms; as if she were made for him.  
  
“I need you, Brad,” Sharon murmured through kisses on his neck. “I need you to be with me now.”  
  
Brad lowered Sharon to floor. She undid the buttons on his pressed shirt and cast it aside. He worked the straps on her dress southward. She slipped out of her dress. Their lips worked hungrily. Brad nibbled her lip and she caressed his face. Brad rolled her gently under him.   
  
“I need you, Brad,” Sharon said again. His touch was like fire on her skin and she drank it in.  
  
Brad devoured her neck with his lips and explored every inch of her upper body. Her breasts were full and ripe in his hands.   
  
This was wrong but it felt very good. Brad had been fantasizing about this moment for a very long time, yet he never expected she would actually be here, under him, so open and willing.   
  
How could he be expected to resist her? Nick had cast her aside but Brad would cherish her.   
  
_But what about Victoria?_ He suddenly thought. What would this to her? He didn’t love her – he knew that now – but she didn’t deserve this.   
  
Neither did Sharon for that matter. As much as Brad cared about her, she was only here because she was hurting. Making love to her would fulfill his desires, but what about hers? She would regret this.   
  
Brad reluctantly rolled off of her.   
  
“What’s wrong, Brad?” Sharon asked, staring up at him with open and trusting eyes. She pulled him closer and he breathed in the aroma of her sweet, sweaty skin.   
  
“We can’t do this.” He reached for his shirt.   
  
She sat up. “Why are you stopping? Did I do something wrong?”  
  
“No, you were perfect,” said Brad. “But I can’t take advantage of you like this.”   
  
“You aren’t. I want to be with you.”  
  
“Do you, Sharon? Or are you saying that because you are hurting? You came here looking for a friend and ended up with me on the floor. This is not what you planned.”  
  
Sharon touched his shoulder. “Maybe it wasn’t planned, but it feels right.”  
  
Brad looked away. He didn’t want her to see the desire in his eyes. Ending this would be that much harder if she saw how much he wanted her. “Sharon, if this is meant to happen … it will. I want it to happen under the right circumstances, not when you are hurting over Nick’s betrayal.”  
  
Saying Nick’s name was like splashing cold water on her and Brad could see her tense up. She reached for her dress. “I am so embarrassed.” Her face flushed with humilation.   
  
She stood and slipped on her dress. “I shouldn’t have come.”  
  
“No, don’t be angry. You needed a friend. And that’s what I am going to be.”  
  
Sharon put on her coat. “I’m leaving.”  
  
“Wait – don’t go.”  
  
“But you said …”  
  
“Just because we don’t make love doesn’t mean you can’t sleep here. You are tired. It’s late. You shouldn’t be driving.”   
  
“I’ll be fine.”  
  
“No, just stay for the night. I have an extra room. You can sleep in there.”  
  
“I don’t know if I should. What about Abby?”  
  
“You can leave before she gets up. My daughter Colleen is sleeping over at a friend’s house so she won’t bother you.”  
  
“Colleen is back in town?”  
  
“Yeah, she’s visiting,” Brad said. “C’mon, go upstairs.”  
  
Sharon sagged against the wall. “Honestly, Brad, I just don’t think I could make it up the stairs right now. I am too drained.”  
  
“I’ll carry you then.”  
  
“That’s not a good idea.”  
  
“No strings attached, I promise.” He then scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs.

* * *

Once Sharon had fallen asleep in the guest bedroom, Brad came in and kissed her lightly on the cheek and brushed a stray hair off her face. She looked like a little girl snuggled up in the king-sized bed and it tugged at his heart. “Good night, Sharon,” he murmured. “Sweet dreams.” Then he walked out and down the hall to his own room.


End file.
